‘Lucy!’ I exclaimed.
‘I’ve got it in sight,’ she said, instantly angry. ‘Fuck. I don’t believe this.’
She pulled up on the collective and we began a steep climb. The Schweizer maintained the same altitude, moving faster than we were for as we gained altitude, our speed dropped to seventy knots. Lucy pushed the cyclic forward as the Schweizer gained on us, swerving in closer on our starboard side, where Lucy was sitting. Lucy keyed the mike.
‘Tower. Unidentified aircraft making aggressive moves,’ she said. ‘Will be making evasive maneuvers. Contact local police authorities, suspect in unidentified aircraft known armed and dangerous fugitive. Will avoid built-up areas, will take evasive actions towards water.’
‘Roger helicopter. Am contacting local authorities.’
Then the tower switched to over-the-guard frequency.
‘Attention any aircraft, this is Wilmington tower on-guard, aircraft traffic area is now closed to incoming traffic. Any ground traffic halt movement. Repeat, aircraft traffic area is now closed to incoming traffic. Any ground traffic, halt movement. All aircraft this frequency, immediately switch to Wilmington approach control on Victor 135.75 or Uniform 343.9. I say again, all aircraft this frequency immediately switch to Wilmington approach control on Victor 135.75 or Uniform 343.9. Helicopter two Sierra Bravo, remain this frequency.’
‘Roger, two Sierra Bravo,’ Lucy returned.
I knew why she was heading toward the ocean. If we went down, she didn’t want it to be in a populated area where others might get hurt or killed. I also was certain that Carrie had predicted Lucy would do exactly this, because Lucy was good. She would always put others first. She turned to the east, the Schweizer following our every move but maintaining the same distance behind us of maybe a hundred yards, as if confident that it didn’t need to be in a hurry. That’s when I realized that Carrie had probably been watching us all along.
‘It can’t go over ninety knots,’ Lucy said to me, and our tension was rising like heat.
‘She saw us come in straight to the field earlier today,’ I said. ‘She knows we haven’t refueled.’
We flew at an angle over the beach and followed it briefly over bright splashes of color that were swimmers and sunbathers. They stopped what they were doing and stared straight up at two helicopters speeding over them and out to sea. Half a mile over the ocean, Lucy began to slow down.
‘We can’t keep this up,’ she told me, and it seemed a pronouncement of doom. ‘We lose our engine, we’ll never make it back, and we’re low on fuel.’
The gauge read less than twenty gallons. Lucy pushed us into a sharp one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. The Schweizer was maybe fifty feet below us and head on. The sun made it impossible to see who was inside, but I knew. I had not a single doubt, and when it was no more than five hundred feet from us and coming up on Lucy’s side, I felt several rapid-fire jolts, like quick slaps, and we suddenly swerved. Lucy grabbed her pistol from her shoulder holster.
‘They’re shooting at us!’ she exclaimed to me.
I thought of the submachine gun, the Calico missing from Sparkes’s collection.
Lucy fought to open her door. She jettisoned it and it tumbled through the air, sailing down and away. She slowed our speed.
‘They’re firing!’ Lucy got back on the air. ‘Returning fire! Keep all traffic away from Wrightsville Beach area!’
‘Roger! Do you request further assistance?’
‘Dispatch land emergency crews, Wrightsville Beach! Expect casualty situation!’
As the Schweizer flew directly under us, I saw muzzle flashes and the tip of a barrel barely protruding from the copilot’s window. I felt more quick jolts.
‘I think they hit the skids,’ Lucy almost screamed, and she was trying to position her pistol out her open door and fly at the same time, her shooting hand bandaged.
I instantly dug inside my pocketbook, dismayed to realize my .38 was still inside my briefcase, which remained safe inside the baggage compartment. Then Lucy handed me her pistol and reached behind her head for the AR-15 assault rifle. The Schweizer swooped around, to pursue us inland, knowing we were cornered because we would not risk the safety of people on the ground.